


Benign

by WandererRiha



Series: Benign [1]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, It's not graphic I promise, Kidfic, Minor Swearing, everyone lives dammit, family fic, god help me I've written mpreg, heavily subverted mpreg, let them be happy, robot babies, young family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25248454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WandererRiha/pseuds/WandererRiha
Summary: Set post-Game, so Spoilers.YoRHa is gone, so is the bunker, and the only robots left are those on earth.Maybe that's not a bad thing.
Relationships: 2B/9S (NieR: Automata)
Series: Benign [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917346
Comments: 95
Kudos: 162





	1. Chapter 1

Ever since that first mission in the Resistance camp, they’d slept together. Well okay not _together_ , but next to each other, side by side, sharing the same mattress. 2B lay flat on her back, body perfectly aligned to allow for maximum joint support so she could fully relax and rest. 9S started out that way, but always wound up curling off to one side a little. Since she was right next to him, he found himself turning to face 2B.

The first time, they didn’t touch, just fell still dressed and dirty into an exhausted sleep. For a while they kept their respectful distance, obeying the invisible boundary line down the middle of the bed. Then 2B’s fingers had curled around his upturned hand and held it tight. 9S didn’t sleep much, but felt better than he had in a long, long time.

After a particularly long and arduous mission in the desert, 2B had stripped off her dress and gloves, and shaken the sand out of her hair. 9S couldn’t help staring. Partial nudity- or even full nudity- was nothing to a soldier. It was more the breach of protocol that had made him blink. Also her leotard was super distracting.

“I’m gross and there’s no water,” she’d said by way of an explanation. 9S had to agree. His clothes and hair were also caked with sand, a thick layer of grime coating his skin. Deciding to follow her example and dump as little sand into the bed as possible, he shed his own outer garments before joining her.

“‘Night, Nines,” she said sleepily, finding his hand and squeezing it.

“‘Night, Bea.”

It was what he called her after that.

Gradually the space between them diminished, till one night found them curled up in each other’s arms. It felt warm and safe and 9S wondered how he’d ever managed to sleep alone? At some point, they’d started kissing. Eventually, they did a bit more. Actually, make that a _lot_ more. Neither of them had ever opted for an ‘upgrade’, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t interface if they wanted. He _was_ a Scanner model, after all.

They slept together ( _together_ -together) now, twined naked beneath the sheets. They didn’t always make love, sometimes it was nice just to be close, to cuddle. More often, 9S would page through old human manuscripts while 2B did small chores like polishing her weapons, or listened to him read before settling down to sleep. Just mundane stuff; relaxing, winding down. Peaceful. Domestic. Almost normal.

Missions were still a thing, as were rogue machines. These days it was mostly the elements that made life difficult. That was okay. That meant there was no shortage of work for 2B and himself to do despite the war finally being over.

Most mornings it was the same. They’d wake and untangle themselves (or not), make the bed together, dress, and prepare for the day’s mission. 2B usually woke first- probably hazards of being a combat model- with 9S surfacing from sleep a moment later. This morning, however, she had to pull herself loose since her lover was still curled limp and heavy around her, dead asleep.

“Nines,” she said, gently shoving his shoulder. “Nines, it’s time to get up.”

9S groaned and hid his face in the pillow.

“Five more minutes,” he mumbled.

“Lazy,” she teased, shoving him again. He curled up tighter, flinching away from her touch.

“Nines?” Worry had crept into her voice. “You okay?”

“I feel like crap.”

2B blinked. It wasn’t like him to admit to pain. Sure he’d gripe and complain if he found a mission tedious, or felt a rule or situation was stupid, but he’d never shirked a mission, had always done what was asked and more. Hell, the first time she’d met him, he’d had an arm and a leg blown off and he’d tried to shrug it off as a scratch. Sinking back down onto the bed, she rested a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?”

“One mother of a headache. And I feel like I’m gonna be sick if I try to sit up.”

2B frowned. “Pod, run diagnostic on Unit 9S.”

“Unit 9S’ systems are running normally. Processing runtime slightly elevated. Diagnosis: Unit 9S has not had sufficient time to defrag after excessive hacking. Proposal: additional rest.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Five more minutes. You want me to stay with you?”

“Please?”

“Okay.” She lay down again and gathered him in her arms. 9S tucked his head under her chin and was asleep before her next breath.

—

The desert still sucked. 2B had let him sleep an entire extra hour and 9S felt better for it, for a while anyway. Both nausea and headache had lessened, but not vanished. The glaring light and searing heat did not help, neither did the thrice damned sandstorm. He had sand in places he didn’t know were possible. He could feel his processor chugging, overwrought from trying to keep him cool. It has been cycling into overdrive the last couple of weeks but never this badly.

2B had always been faster than him, and she’d had to pause and glance over her shoulder several times to make sure he was still there. 9S did his best to keep up, but he could hardly see straight in a way that had nothing do with the air being filled with millions of particles of sand. The headache was making everything fractured and hazy; an indistinct, jagged chorus line of 2B’s walking ahead of him instead of just one. They were also growing smaller and smaller. 9S tried to pick up his feet, but he couldn’t seem to make himself go any faster.

“Bea!” he called, his voice getting lost in the hiss of sand shifting over sand. “B--”

The word devolved into a sloppy _BLECH_ as he collapsed to hands and knees and retched. A revolting mix of oil and hot water formed a soupy puddle in the sand. It was enough to turn his stomach and he vomited a second time.

“Nines!” 2B’s shadow passed over him; a blessed eclipse of cool and shade in this hell of light and heat. “Pod, run diagnostic!”

“Affirmative. Unit 9S is overheated. Cooling systems are running at double capacity, as is processing. Core temperature elevated. All other systems functioning normally.”

“Why?” she snapped.

“Unknown. Proposal: Unit 9S should perform a self-hack to troubleshoot abnormal functions.”

“Later,” he grunted, letting 2B pull him to his feet. He swayed dangerously, optics graying out briefly. “We need to--”

2B caught him as gravity tried to yank him down onto the dunes. His whole body felt like jelly. Melted jelly. What was wrong with him?

“You can’t go on like this,” she said, matter-of-fact as always. “Here.”

Crouching down, she maneuvered his arms so that they circled her neck from behind. Catching a hand behind each of his knees, she hefted him onto her back and stood. Ordinarily, 9S would have protested being carried, but was too miserable to care. He laid his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Five minutes. Just five minutes and maybe he’d feel well enough to walk…

\--

He woke later- though how much later, he had no idea- to find himself stripped to the skin and lying in the shallows of a small body of water. A palm tree and 2B’s worried expression kept the worst of the sun off his face. They must have made it to the Oasis.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Not great,” he grunted, lifting a hand to rub at his face, “but better.”

“Your cooling system and processor were really chugging badly. Are you sure you didn’t take any damage from the last hack you performed?”

9S thought about it, trying to remember anything weird or different. Yes he’d done a _lot_ of hacking in almost back-to-back instances in the last few weeks, but not more than he’d done when the war was still on.

“I don’t think so? I’ll perform a self-hack once we’ve made it back to the Resistance camp.”

“Why not now?” It wasn’t like her to press him with questions. She must really be worried. Reaching, 9S cupped her cheek in one hand.

“Because I don’t know how long it will take, or what I’ll find. Let’s just find those spare parts and get out of here. I can make it till then.”

“ _Now,_ ” she insisted, her tone making it an order.

“I’m not being insubordinate, I really can’t do a self-hack out here. Even with you beside me, it’s too risky.”

“9S…” she began, her voice edging from scared into angry.

“Tell you what. How about I reorganize my chip set? I don’t need to be carrying so many combat plugins. I’ll swap some of them out for speed boosters so I’m not chugging so bad.”

She didn’t look happy, but she nodded and stroked a hand over his hair. “Alright.”

\--

The walk back to the Resistance camp seemed to take days. Despite rearranging his chip set, 9S’ processor was whirring dangerously, loud enough for 2B to look over, frown, and sweep him off his feet and into her arms. For once, he didn’t complain. When they finally got home, 2B only paused long enough to hose the sand off them both before setting him down on their bed.

Sand free and in clean clothes, 9S felt more like himself. However, the headache persisted and he still felt tired and queasy.

“Do you need me to put you in safe mode?” 2B asked. 9S couldn’t tell if it was an offer or a threat. Possibly, it was both.

“No, I can do it. Just gimme a minute.”

He felt her take his hand, the mattress crush and slant as she sat down beside him. After that, awareness of the outside world faded as 9S turned his attention inward.

He performed a standard once-over and came up with more or less what the pods had: for reasons unknown, his processor was laboring to keep up with what should have been routine functions. That, in turn, was taxing his cooling system. Weird. Nothing was immediately out of place, so he dug deeper.

_Whoa, what the hell?_

It reminded him of a half-begun motherboard; notches for audio, visual, tactile, and other basic functions, but most of the little square of programming was obviously incomplete. Was this some sort of mental shrapnel? Fragments of code left behind from the last enemy he’d hacked? No, he realized. He recognized these functions. Strength, speed, agility...all primary attributes of a combat model.

This code belonged to 2B.

But how? He hadn’t hacked her sys-- Wait, yes he had. Only it wasn’t his usual method of hacking. 9S could distantly feel his face flushing as realization dawned. He must have copied fragments of code from her each time they’d made love. Apparently it had been enough to accumulate into….this: the foundations of an android’s consciousness. A consciousness that had been growing and piecing itself together without him even noticing. That would certainly explain the strain on his processor.

Wait.

Wait just one minute.

Did that mean?

Was he…?

_Oh shit._

9S stared at the code, at the prototype motherboard. He hadn’t consciously put it together, had not even known it was here until now. Logically, one could assume that every time he and 2B slept together, more code was added. His system seemed to be trying to integrate it but not in such a way that it melded with his own consciousness and abilities. Instead, the program appeared to be trying to build on itself, using the shared fragments of his and 2B’s code. Theoretically, there might eventually be enough to form a whole second personality.

Well now.

How the heck was he going to explain _this?_ (And were those freaky robots in the desert ever going to be mad if they ever heard about this. Which they were _totally_ not going to. Like ever.) It occurred to him that he could delete it. Could set his systems to perform an automatic scan and wipe from now on but…

He didn’t want to. Half of this...whatever...was 2B’s. She should have a say in what happened to it, right? Also, he’d been in safe mode for a while now, and she was probably getting worried. 9S took a step back, out of his head and back into the waking world.

Tactile and olfactory were usually the first systems to boot up, alerting him of the gentle waves of slightly mildewy coolness coming from the air conditioner. Both of 2B’s hands were clenched around his, her grip relaxing as his eyes fluttered open.

“Well?” she asked.

9S looked up at her, trying and failing to find words. Well, she’d never minced words with him. Perhaps this one time, it would be best to be blunt and to the point.

“I...think I’m pregnant.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9S drops a bombshell.

“ _What?_ ”

2B stared down at him blankly, completely at a loss.

“I found what looked like the beginnings of a base personality; a proto motherboard cobbled together from your code and mine.”

“My code?” she echoed. “How and why do you have my code?”

“Well when two androids love each other very much…”

She shoved him gently, snorting a laugh. “Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how else it could have got there.”

“Huh.” She seemed nonplussed. “Have you ever heard of this happening to any other S-models?”

Carefully, he shook his head and regretted it almost instantly. “No. I don’t know if that’s because its never happened, no one reported it, I’ve had my memories wiped too often to remember something like that, or we’re just weird because of all the shit we’ve been through.”

She nodded thoughtfully, expression troubled. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Is what good or bad?”

“You. Carrying that extra code. That’s what was causing your system to overload, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I dunno what else it could be.”

“Can you delete it?”

He couldn’t help wincing at that. “Do you want me to?”

Her expression cracked, guarded disbelief softening into concern. “I want you to be functional.”

“I am.”

“I don’t want you to be in pain.”

“I think if I tweak my chipset some more, I can work around it.”

“...do you _want_ to leave it there?”

9S contemplated their clasped hands for a long moment. “I don’t know. I wanted to ask you before I did anything. Sure, I could delete it. I’d also probably have to set an automatic wipe for every time we...you know...to keep any extra code from building up.”

“And if you don’t?”

“I have reason to think that eventually there would be enough to download to a whole new android.”

“YoRHa’s gone,” she reminded him. “There are no other androids, just those here on earth.”

“Yeah, but there’s still plenty of android bodies lying around.”

She was staring at him in disbelief. “You’ve thought about this.”

“Not really. Not yet. But I can think of a couple of solutions off the top of my head.” Somehow, it felt like he was being scolded. He fully expected a dressing down, for her to tell him he was being sentimental and stupid. What the hell would they do with a child? Providing the aforementioned speculations proved true, and they’d have no way to find out until it happened. Or, yanno, not.

“You really want it?”

9S looked up, forcing himself to meet her eyes. “I don’t want to lose any part of you. Not any. The war’s over. Earth isn’t the same as it was before. I want to… I’d like to… Would...would you be okay if….?”

Unexpectedly, 2B pulled him into a hug. “I don’t want you to suffer, to be hurt. I can’t lose you again.”

“It’s not gonna make my head explode, Bea,” he said, hugging her back. She was always the strong one, the least he could do was try to provide comfort when she needed it. “Yeah I’ll probably have migraines off and on until it’s big enough to upload to another body, but it’s not like I’m gonna die in childbirth or anything.”

“But your processor. Your cooling system.”

“It’ll just mean less running around. It wouldn’t kill us to dial it back a little. The war’s over. We have all the time in the world.”

“I suppose,” she drawled, leaning her chin on his shoulder. “I just want you to be safe.”

“Hey, with you to protect me, how could I not be?”

He could almost feel her sardonic smile. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

9S chuckled. “No, but it made you smile.”

“It did.” Turning her head, she kissed his cheek. “You want this.”

It wasn’t a question. Sometimes he wondered if some of him hadn’t rubbed off on her. She always seemed to know what he was thinking or feeling. Who knew? Maybe she carried little strands of his code as well. He could check. Maybe he just had a lousy poker face. Pulling back, he searched her face, trying to read her without scanning.

“I...didn’t want to do anything without asking you first. I wanted to see what you thought.”

“But you want to keep it.”

He couldn’t help flinching away; bracing himself for the reprimand that was surely coming.

“Only if you’re ready to be a mom.”

“Wouldn’t you be the mother? You’re the one who’s carrying it.”

That made him laugh. “I guess. I mean, I’m only male-shaped. Not like androids really have gender.”

She seemed amused. “Tell me what you want, Nines. Please.”

Leaning back on the pillows, he took a deep breath. “This is in no way shape or form a good idea but… I want to see what happens. I want to try. I want to keep it. I’d like to keep it. It’s part of you.”

Her expression softened and she leaned to kiss him.

“It’s part of you too, so we’re keeping it. I don’t want to lose any part of you either.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Think you’re ready to be a dad?”

That made her laugh and 9S smiled.

“I guess we’ll find out.”

She lay down next to him, smiling, and kissed his cheek. “You said it’s incomplete. How much do you think it would take to finish it?”

He tried to run the calculations but soon gave up. “I dunno. I’d have to study it some more. There’s too many unknown variables. It would definitely take more code than what it’s got now before it could be successfully extracted and uploaded to a new body.”

“Well then,” her grin had taken on a mischievous edge, “guess we’d better get to work.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting some practice in.

They cut back on the missions. No one seemed to mind, or if they did, no one said anything. The headaches and nausea came and went in unpredictable waves. Try as he might, 9S could not discern a pattern. 2B fussed on him shamelessly, doing her best not to smother him or seem overprotective. Instead she spoiled him as best she could, letting him sleep when he was tired and choosing missions that wouldn’t tax his system too much. They both tried to avoid the desert at all costs.

Oddly enough, one mission proved strangely helpful to their situation.

“Do you suppose you could keep an eye on the children for a little while?” Pascal had asked. “I won’t be gone long. I know the danger now is minimal, but you’d be surprised what they can get up to.”

The Machines, of course, weren’t really children so much as more recently built models still learning and growing. Which...was what children were so yeah, okay, fine. Machine children. They were good kids for the most part, but had zero sense of self-preservation. 2B and 9S spent an enlightening afternoon running after Pascal’s kids making sure they didn’t get themselves killed.

“That’s what we’ve got to look forward to,” 9S huffed, fan buzzing a warning from spinning at maximum for too long.

“It’s not too late,” 2B told him. 9S just stared at her, trying to work out if she was trying to be funny or serious or maybe some weird mix of both.

“It was a joke,” she said, expression contrite. “I didn’t mean…”

9S smiled for her to hide how much her words had hurt. “I know you didn’t.”

“You know I have the comedic skills of a rock,” 2B lamented.

“I love your biting sarcasm and dry wit,” 9S told her with full honesty, stretching to kiss her cheek. “We just gotta work on your timing, that’s all.”

She smiled, just the tiniest bit chagrined and kissed him back.

“Ew gross!” one of the kids gagged. “They’re being _mushy!_ ”

\--

Against their better judgement, it wasn’t the only time 2B and 9S babysat for Pascal. It was good practice. At least, that’s what 9S told 2B. Oddly enough, she agreed with him. She had her own way of studying and learning from the kids; tracking their movements and learning how best to keep them in line. 9S, being a Scanner, found himself focusing on their individual quirks and curiosities, studying their developing personalities. Funny. Not so long ago he would have dismissed the very possibility of Machine personalities as pure nonsense.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” 2B commented as they walked home. “Also, there’s a dozen of them. We’ll only have one to keep track of.”

“One to start, anyway.”

9S was almost yanked off his feet as 2B stopped short, still holding his hand.

The look on her face was too complex to parse. Aside from being profoundly poleaxed, it was hard to tell what was going on behind her wide, gray eyes.

“So….no siblings?”

“Please tell me you’re not having twins.”

“I’m not. At least, I don’t think so.”

She relaxed slightly, allowing herself a weak laugh. “Let’s see how this one goes first.”

“Okay, fair enough.” 9S held out his arms and she fell into them gladly.

“I’m not opposed to siblings,” she muttered into his hair. “But let’s see how we manage with just one.”

“Deal.”

She drew back, studying him briefly before walking on.

“So more kids, huh? I never knew you wanted a family.”

9S shrugged and contemplated the little dust clouds his boots made when they kicked against the broken pavement. “I’ve always wanted a family. It just...wasn’t allowed.”

She dropped his hand, fingers traveling up his arm and across his shoulders so she could pull him close against her. Instinctively, he put an arm around her waist.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

“Hey, don’t apologize. You didn’t know.”

“I should have.”

“Bea. It’s okay. Really.”

She stopped and smiled. “Why are you so good to me?”

He stretched and kissed her. “‘Cause you’re good to me. And also I love you. That too.”

Her smile widened to a grin to mirror 9S’.


	4. Chapter 4

“I didn’t mean it,” 2B said out of nowhere. It was late, and although the ever-present sun still shone through the permanent layer of cloud, the Resistance camp had been quiet for hours. Only the sentries on guard duty were awake, quietly pacing back and forth. 9S lay on the bed already dozing, the whir of his overtaxed fan making him a little dizzy.

“Mean what?”

“What I said the other day. About it not being too late. That was… It was cruel and thoughtless and I shouldn’t have said it. It sounded funny in my head, but it wasn’t funny at all. It was mean, and I’m sorry.”

“Uh, okay,” he said, resettling so he could sit up a little and look at her. That had been ages ago. “You’ve been thinking about it that long?”

She nodded and perched on the edge of the bed. She swallowed hard, blinking rapidly, and 9S came to the surreal realization that she was struggling not to cry.

“Oh Nines I’m sorry!” She hid her face in both hands as she broke down.

“Hey, no,” 9S soothed, sitting up and pulling her close. “It’s okay, really.”

“It’s not! Your face when I said that… you looked so hurt. And then I thought...how could I ask you to kill this thing that’s made up of both of us? To kill a part of yourself, of me.”

She was sobbing in earnest into his shoulder. 9S held her tight, one hand smoothing her back.

“I love you Nines,” she said, her tears having run down a little. “I want to keep you safe. Both of you.” She laughed a little, the sound fragile and a little wild. “They’re not even here and I already love them so much. I’ll have two of you to protect, two of you to worry about, and I’m so scared something will happen and I won’t be able to protect you.”

That ‘you’ was plural now. 9S squeezed her tight, kissed her cheek.

“It’s okay, Bea. Thank you for telling me all that. I think I get it now.”

“Sorry,” she wiped at her face with one hand. “I think I needed a moment.”

“You’re allowed,” he assured her. “Sometimes you gotta freak out a little before you can take the next step.”

She nodded, accepting the sense in this.

“What is the next step?”

“Well, she’s getting pretty big. We should probably start thinking about a body; a place for her to sleep, clothes, that kind of thing.”

“Yes, that’s a good plan.” A pause. “I guess...should we explain why we’re collecting parts and obtaining additional resources? Should...should we tell anyone?”

“Uhhh….” 9S stalled, brought up short. For some reason he hadn’t thought about that.

“It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to inform maintenance,” he began, thinking out loud. “In case I need extra power or bandwidth for the upload. Might be interesting to have them scan and document everything before that happens.”

“Like hell are we telling Jackass,” 2B grumbled. She was still bitter about the mackerel.

“Like hell,” 9S agreed. He didn’t want Jackass anywhere near a child, especially not _his_ child. Also, he didn’t care to endure the inventory of off-color jokes and remarks she surely had on file.

“Maybe Anemone? A2? Definitely Pascal.”

She nodded, smiling. “Definitely Pascal. Maybe he can help us with parts and things.”

“Yeah, good idea.”

With a sigh, 2B laid down next to him, cuddling close to rest her head on his shoulder.

“Are we good?”

He kissed her head and rubbed her arm, hugging her close. “We’re good.”

—

It wasn’t easy to keep tabs on something that was always growing, always changing. The code in 9S’ system kept replicating steadily, taking up more and more space. The headaches were near-constant, but usually bearable. Usually. It wouldn’t take much more to finish it, which meant they needed to start working on a body and soon.

“Boy or girl?” 9S asked 2B as they wandered the abandoned city, looking for android parts not rusted solid or tainted by Logic virus.

“What do you want?” she asked, tossing the question back to him.

“The program feels female to me, if that makes sense? Probably because it carries so much of your code.”

“Most YoRHa units were built with female-shaped bodies, and programmed with traditionally feminine personalities. This was because female units tended to work together better in large groups while male units spent too much time squabbling for dominance.”

“That’s what the log books say,” 9S agreed, “except it’s not strictly true. There’s not really any advantage or disadvantage to a model being engineered as male or female. I just...depends on the personality, I guess, and what you want to do. It’s just a body, right? I mean, if she really wanted to, she could change it later if she didn’t like it.”

“She?” 2B echoed, smiling. 9S blushed.

“I did say I can’t help thinking of her as a girl. Most androids are women.”

“Okay. So a girl to start.”

9S smiled. “A girl. Guess we should start thinking about names too.”

2B’s smile faltered. “Oh. Yeah. I guess.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not creative the way you are. I don’t know what would make a good name for a child. For our daughter.”

“I’m not really either, but I did have one idea.”

She stopped poking around in the tall grass and turned to look at him, head tilted to one side. “Oh?”

9S rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling his face heat. “It’s stupid.”

“No, I want to hear it.”

“It’s...not super creative. Honestly, it’s kinda dumb. Really cheesy.”

“ _Nines._ ”

“Right, right,” he said, reeling his nervousness back in. “I thought...what if we put our names together? ‘2S’ doesn’t work but...I kind of like ‘B9’. It sounds like a word as opposed to just a call number.”

“B9,” 2B echoed. “Benign. Something that isn’t dangerous.”

9S nodded. “The first android not built specifically for war.”

She smiled. “I like it.”

He grinned. “Me too.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided "screw it, Devola and Popla live".  
> Have a minor edit.

“I’m sorry, what?” Anemone blinked, utterly at a loss.

“We’re… You know what, let me start smaller,” 9S said. He’d been hoping to avoid going into too much detail, but since they’d probably be borrowing the Resistance camp medical facilities for the upload, he felt an explanation was owed.

“2B and I are serious. And. Well,” he gestured vaguely.

“Yeah, okay, I get it,” Anemone spared him from having to try to explain _that_.

“Yeah so...I wound up copying fragments of her code. Between the two of us, I’ve almost compiled enough for a completely separate android personality.”

She blinked, nonplussed. “Huh. Okay. Congratulations?”

“Thank you,” 2B told her. “We’re going to need a body to upload it to, and we’d like the supervision of your medical staff when the time comes.”

“Of course,” Anemone agreed. “You two let me know what you need, and I’ll make it happen.”

\--

“Wait, for serious?” Devola asked, eyes wide?

9S rubbed at the back of his neck. “Um. Yeah? I’m gonna be a mom...dad...er… We’re gonna be parents.”

Devola grinned and lightly punched 2B’s shoulder. “Way to go, girl!”

2B just looked at her and Devola edged back toward her sister.

“That’s so cool!” Popola exclaimed. “I had no idea Scanners were capable of that!”

“Me either,” 9S confessed. “I don’t know if all Scanners would have the potential, or if I’m just weird.”

“Oh you’re plenty weird,” Devola agreed.

9S rolled his eyes as Popola elbowed her sister. “Thanks.”

“Seriously though, you never heard of this happening to any other Scanners?”

He shook his head. “No but with...well…’turnover’ being what it was…”

They all fell silent for a moment at the euphemism. Perhaps if so many Scanners hadn’t routinely been killed in endless, pointless missions, those of them in relationships might have eventually become parents themselves. What YoRHa would have made of _that_ , no one cared to consider.

“Well, we’re happy for you,” Popola spoke up. “You can count on us to provide whatever care you may need.”

9S scavenged a smile for them. “Thanks, guys.”

\--

“A child? Oh that’s wonderful!” Pascal exclaimed, delighted. 9S let out a relieved sigh. Not that he’d thought Pascal would give them a hard time about it, but Anemone’s confused expression lingered in his mind’s eye.

“Yes, I’ll be happy to help with anything you might need.”

“We’re looking for spare parts right now,” 9S told him. “So we can complete a body for them.”

“Of course. I’ll be sure to save any android parts I come across.”

“Yeah just make sure they’re not full of Logic virus.”

“Definitely,” Pascal agreed. “Can’t have them getting sick before they’ve had a chance to know love.”

“Right,” 9S hedged, glad Pascal seemed perfectly willing to make his own assumptions. As far as he knew, they were restoring another android, not building one from scratch.

“Oh! I have an idea. Give me a list. I’ll organize the villagers to help find the items you require. We’ll present them to you later once we have everything. How does that sound?”

“Uh...great.” It did, actually. 9S had expected to do a lot more of the leg work himself, and given the near-constant headaches, he was more than willing to let someone else do all the running around. “Thanks.”

\--

“So you’re knocked up, huh?” A2 remarked, deadpan.

“Uh…” was the most intelligent response 9S could come up with.

“Yes,” 2B grabbed his arm protectively. “We’re going to be parents. And you’re going to be um...uh…”

“An aunt,” 9S supplied.

A2 blinked. “What the hell’s an aunt?”

“Extended family,” 9S clarified. “Specifically, the sister of one of the parents.”

“Huh,” she mused, thinking that over. “Okay. What’s an aunt do?”

“The same stuff you usually do. Kick butt, take names, and maybe help us keep track of our daughter if we can’t for some reason.”

She nodded. “Alright. I can do that.”

“Also...I’ve been reading some of the archives from the moon server. Apparently familial roles could be stacked. For instance, we’d also like you to be godmother.”

“A what now?” her usually bland expression twisted in perplexity.

“A backup parent. Sort of like when the second-in-command steps up if something happens to the CO.”

“Oh. Right. Gotcha. Why didn’t they just say that?”

2B shrugged. “Humans.”

They nodded, jointly acknowledging the ineffable quirks and peculiarities of their long-dead creators. Humans, man. Go figure.

“So...you okay with that?”

“Yeah, alright,” A2 said with a nod. “Just try not to get yourselves killed before junior’s halfway self-sufficient. I dunno jack about kids and I’m not great with rookies.”

9S offered her a grin. “We’ll do our best.”

\--

Although they’d only told a handful of people, it hadn’t occurred to 9S to ask anyone to not speak about it. Not that he expected Pascal, A2, or Anemone to shout through the AP system that he and 2B were expecting. Still, it seemed word had got around, and they were met with awkward congratulations and weird looks in equal measure. Jackass, oddly enough, refrained from doing much more than cackle hysterically when she’d heard. 9S braced himself for some deeply inappropriate remarks, but none were forthcoming.

“Wait, no creepy sex jokes? No jabs about mood swings or losing my figure?”

Jackass thought for a minute and then shook her head.

“Nah. Most of the human jokes are too gender-specific, and I ain’t gonna talk shit about my own body model. Besides, you guys have earned the whole happily-ever-after thing. So yeah. Congrats or whatever. You need special parts or anything, hit me up.”

“Pascal’s already working on that, but I’m sure he’d be glad of the help,” 2B put in while 9S stared, nonplussed.

“Will do. Lemme know when the rug rat arrives. Bet I could fix up some old toys and kid junk in the meantime.”

“Uh. Okay,” 9S managed at last. “Thanks.”

Jackass grinned. “No problem.”

\--

More missions- a handful of rabid animals that proved tricky to track down and corner, the desert desperados making a nuisance of themselves again, plus a couple of rusty doors that needed to be hacked to be unlocked and the pests inside cleared out- kept all thoughts of B9 on the back burner for a couple of days. It wasn’t until 9S paused to scavenge a remarkably intact part that he realized he and 2B hadn’t done much in the way of preparing for their daughter’s arrival.

“We can make that our new priority starting tomorrow,” 2B promised when he said as much. “We need to remember to take time for ourselves. Once she’s here, we won’t be able to say ‘yes’ to every mission any more.”

“Yeah, I guess,” 9S mused. Honestly, it might be a nice change. He’d never been so tired in his life, and felt as if he’d never cool off ever again. “Right now, I just want to clean up and relax.”

2B was on the verge of gently teasing him about his obsession with baths when Anemone called out to them.

“2B! 9S!”

9S sighed. “Now what?”

2B shrugged. “Sounds urgent. Guess we’d better go see.”

“I’m glad I caught you,” Anemone said, quickening her pace to meet them halfway. “I need your approval on something. This way.”

Without waiting for further comment, she strode purposefully toward the medical tent. Exchanging a bemused look with one another, 9S and 2B followed. A couple of screens had been arranged around one of the cots. Anemone stepped forward and pushed one of the screens out of the way.

“What do you think?”

On the cot lay a female android. She was more slightly built than 2B, perhaps a little shorter, with subtler curves. Her hair was longer, trailing past her shoulders, but still the same platinum blond as the rest of YoRHa. She’d been dressed in a simple undyed tunic similar to what Anemone and the other Resistance members wore; what 9S and 2B wore themselves now that YoRHa was gone.

Automatically, 9S attempted to scan her and got nothing. She wasn’t dead, she was just...blank. Inactive. And then it hit him. He clutched at 2B as his knees gave out. She caught him easily, holding him close against her to keep him on his feet.

“Nines?”

“Oh my gosh…” he whispered, throat suddenly so tight he could barely force the words out. “You did it. You built her for us.”

He felt 2B’s breath catch, her arms tighten around him.

“Surprise!” The word echoed, deafening around them as Pascal, A2, Jackass, and many others- both Machines and Androids- emerged from behind the curtains.

“What the hell?” 2B demanded, fully prepared to scoop up 9S and run.

“We wanted to do something for you, since the two of you have done so much for us,” Pascal explained. “A2’s pod gave us the idea.”

Both 9S and 2B turned to glare accusingly at the pod.

“Explanation: Humans had a ritual known as a ‘baby shower’. Friends and family would bestow gifts upon expectant parents such as clothing, furniture, and other accessories necessary to provide care for an infant.”

9S swallowed hard, floundering for words but finding none. It was too much. They’d done so much… He stomped down- not entirely successfully- on the sudden urge to cry.

“Thank you,” 2B managed, voice no louder than his had been. “She’s beautiful.”

“That’s not all!” Jackass declared, shoving a cardboard box at them. 9S had to take it or risk getting hit in the face.

“We collected some additional items,” Pascal explained as 9S opened the box and lifted out a couple of pieces of repaired clothing sized to fit the body on the gurney. “I hope they’re alright.”

“It’s too much,” 2B protested, voice fragmented with gratitude. “You’ve given us too much…”

There were other small parcels, wrapped in clumsy, homespun imitation of antique gift boxes. There was a prettily carved wooden brush and comb, a small assortment of toys both salvaged and homemade, a couple of books of similar description, a full set of basic chips, and a specially designed pod program.

“So you’ll always know where she is,” Anemone explained. “It’s a lot better than the scanning program.”

“Thank you,” 9S finally managed. “Really. Thank you.”

“It’s us who should be thanking you,” Pascal demurred. “You’ve done what the rest of us could not.”

2B tilted her head, curious. “What’s that?”

“Take the next step in our evolution.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More edits.

They left B9’s body at the Resistance camp medical station. Yes, they could have taken her across the compound to their room, but it made more sense to leave her where she was. After all, they’d be returning soon enough.

“When do you think she’ll be ready?” 2B asked that evening, sifting through the gifts they’d received. It still felt like too much, no matter what their friends might insist.

“Soon,” 9S mumbled into the pillow.

B9 was virtually finished, his own protocols in the process of finalizing and tying up some loose ends before she would be ready to upload. Honestly, he doubted he could handle any additional code. For one, he felt too ill for love-making. For another, 9S was pretty sure he was already at max capacity for memory storage, even with the extra RAM provided by leaving almost every chip slot empty.

“Months? Weeks?”

“Days,” he groaned, turning onto his back. “Maybe not even that.”

Eyes closed, he didn’t see her the look of alarm pop into place on her face, but he felt the sudden spike of tension shiver through the mattress. Reaching blindly, he found her wrist and closed his hand around it.

“It’ll be okay,” he promised. “She’ll be here, and I can stop having headaches, and it’ll be great. It will. Seriously.”

She took his hand and squeezed it. “I know. I can’t wait to meet her. I just can’t help worrying about you. Both of you.”

9S forced himself to open his eyes and look at her. The dim light of the old lamp stabbed all the way through to the back of his optical receptors, making it feel as if he were staring wide-eyed directly into the veiled sun. Squinting a little, he summoned a smile for her.

“It’ll be okay Bea,” he assured her. “I’ve got you to protect me.”

Her smile looked about as certain as his own, but at least it was there.

“I’ll be fine,” he insisted, tugging her down to lie beside him. “I promise.”

She snuggled close, arms wrapping him in a protective circle. “I’ll hold you to that.”

\--

_WARNING WARNING WARNING_

The word flashed red and angry behind his eyelids. At first 9S thought he might be dreaming, second, that he might be under attack. It wasn’t until the wave of nausea hit- rolling up and over him like a wave- that he jerked awake and into awareness, lurching out of 2B’s grasp to vomit over the side of the bed.

“Nines?” she asked, instantly awake.

He couldn’t answer, coughing and choking on the boiling water and hot oil still caught in this mouth and throat.

“You’re red-hot,” she remarked, one hand against the back of his neck. For a moment she listened, 9S’ labored breaths the only sound.

The _only_ sound.

“Alert.” Pod 153 had risen from her charging station and was hovering above him, agitated in her own limited way. “Unit 9S is severely overheated. Cooling system malfunctioning. Analysis: 9S’ primary fan has broken. Proposal: Unit 9S should seek maintenance immediately.”

That wasn’t all. Pop-ups and warnings flashed all over his HUD, making it difficult to see and worsening his nausea. 9S tried to blink them away, but it was no use. It took several precious seconds to close the bulk of them so that he could see straight. They all said the same thing anyway:

_Memory exceeded. Would you like to delete something? Y/N_

“She’s ready,” he panted.

“What?” 2B’s voice had become sharp and strained with sudden panic.

“B9. She’s ready. I think she’s what broke my fan.”

2B didn’t have to be instructed further. 9S felt her ease one arm behind his back, another under his knees, and lift him off the bed. For once, he didn’t mind the indignity of being carried. It wasn’t as if he could have stood upright without immediately passing out and keeling over anyway.

It could not have been more than a hundred steps from their door to the maintenance area, yet every step 2B took jostled and jarred as if she were running across broken concrete and not the smooth packed earth of the Resistance camp courtyard.

“Bea…” he tried to warn her, doing his best to choke back the scalding feeling in his throat. “ _Bea!_ ”

At once she set him down and he collapsed to all fours, retching into the dirt. Steam rose too-hot and stinging into his face.

“2B! 9S!” That was Anemone’s voice. 9S hadn’t bothered to open his eyes, as that only made things worse.

“Have the Devola and Popola prep B9,” 2B ordered, the familiar tone of command back in her voice, “and pull a new cooling fan for immediate installation.”

“Right.”

9S felt himself lifted again, and he swallowed hard to keep from scalding 2B.

“Shhh,” she said, carrying him the last few rocky steps and laying him down on one of the cots. Strange hands yanked his shirt off, touched the points necessary to pop his chest open and expose the workings inside. The sudden rush of cool air made him sigh in relief.

“Ow!” That was Devola, who had most likely burned herself on his insides. “Shit!”

Several puffs of frigid air made him inhale sharply, body tensing at the sudden cold.

“Liquid nitrogen,” the Popola explained. “Just enough to make things manageable.”

9S nodded, distracted. More and more pop-ups were cluttering his vision. Rather than fuss with them, he set them to silent for the next hour. Nothing too earth-shattering would happen in an hour right?

_Right?_

“Once you’re done, prep an auxiliary power cable, and clear a channel for upload,” he instructed. “I dunno how long this will take, or how much bandwidth I’ll need.”

“We’ll give you whatever we’ve got,” Devola assured him. “There. That should help. I’m gonna leave your plating open until you cool off a little. Is that okay?”

“It’s fine,” he gasped, still queasy and light-headed, but not quite as badly. Someone squeezed his hand.

_2B…_

He hadn’t realized until that moment that she was still there. He squeezed back and tried to smile.

“I’ve got the power cable ready,” Popola said, easing a hand behind his shoulders. “Can you sit up?”

9S wasn’t sure that wouldn’t end in disaster, but he nodded anyway, willing to try. “Yeah.”

2B and Popola helped him sit up. The room promptly spun in a sickening circle and he swayed to one side, boiling water surging up his throat. Someone shoved a bucket into his arms and he promptly made use of it. More pop-ups and alerts crowded his vision, each one accompanied by a separate stab of pain.

“Where is she?” he gasped.

“Here.” Someone- he was no longer sure who- took his hand and placed it on what felt like an arm. He followed it up to the shoulder, then the neck, until he found her face. Searching, his fingers found the appropriate points on either side of her head. Right. Okay. He only had a vague idea as to how this might work, but instinct told him this was what he ought to do. Leaning forward, he pressed his forehead to hers.

“Initiating upload.”

_Okay B9, time to meet the world._

2B watched, helpless, hamstrung, useless as 9S pressed his forehead to B9’s and then fell silent. The only indicator that anything was happening was the frantic whirr of his new fan, and the heavy charge of electricity surrounding their bodies.

“How long?” she asked the twins.

Popola was busy hooking up a series of cables from an outlet in B9’s arm to a small monitor.

“I don’t know. The file is enormous. She’s at less than 2% right now. Hours, at least. Probably the rest of the day, maybe longer. I’m really not sure.”

2B fought back the urge to scream.

“If you want to wait here with him, you can,” Devola told her, “but it’s going to be a while.”

2B nodded and took a seat on one of the nearby cots. “Thank you.”


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn’t until 2B woke up that she realized she’d fallen asleep. She jerked upright with a start, every sense ratcheted to high alert, yet nothing seemed to have changed.

“Morning,” Popola told her, Devola was snoring softly on another cot. “No change. They’re up to 11% and it’s been about four hours, so it’ll be a while yet.”

“Oh. Thank you,” 2B replied blankly. About then she realized she was still in her pajamas- just a simple over-long T-shirt. She should probably go put some clothes on before the rest of the camp woke up, yet she hated to leave 9S and their daughter for even a short time.

“If you need to go do something, I can watch them,” Popola offered, seeming to read her thoughts. “I’ll call you at once if there’s any change.”

“Alright,” 2B agreed with some reluctance. “Thank you.”

Glancing back one last time, she hurried across the courtyard. It was early enough that no one but the sentries were up, and they barely spared her a glance. Once inside their room, she pulled off the T-shirt and hurried into what she thought of as her new uniform: a pair of close-fitting rust-colored trousers, a long smock-like tunic, sturdy knee boots, and a cloak similar to Anemone’s to guard against the elements. Folding her nightshirt, she went to place it beneath her pillow and noticed the bed was still a mess. She took an extra minute to make it, and then remembered the puddle of cold water and oil on the floor. Cleaning that up didn’t take much longer. 9S was still in his pajamas, as was B9. 2B collected clothes for both of them and then headed back across the camp. She’d scarcely been gone ten minutes.

2B sat down to wait, intending to watch quietly while the upload proceeded. Despite a new fan and his torso plates remaining disengaged, 9S’s core temperature hadn’t dropped much. He continued to hover just under the danger line, eyes closed and attention elsewhere as he focused on transferring so much data from one point to another.

She stood up. Paced. Sat down. Repeated the process a few times.

“Everything’s proceeding as normal,” Popola said, sensing her frustration. “At least, both their systems are stable, and the data transfer is moving along at a steady pace. No errors, no alerts.”

“Good,” 2B nodded. “That’s good.”

“You don’t have to stay. I can watch them if you’ve got things you need to do.”

“No, I’ll stay here.”

“Alright. If that’s what you want.”

“It is.”

It was not, however, what the twins wanted. After a few hours of 2B growing increasingly agitated, another android wandered in.

“Hey. How’s he doing?”

2B looked up in surprise. “A2!”

“Had some spare parts to deliver and heard the news. Thought I’d check in. That okay?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

A2 put a hand on her arm, gently drawing her away from where 9S and B9 lay.

“Let's go outside for a bit.”

“But--!” 2B protested.

“They’re not going anywhere. C’mon.”

Unwilling to start a fight in such close quarters, and so close to her family, 2B let herself be dragged out to the pond and little islets immediately outside the resistance camp. A couple of machines were out fishing, or foraging for whatever they could find. They waved once and went back to what they were doing. 2B waved half-heartedly and turned to A2.

“What’s this about? I can’t stay out here. What if they need me?”

“The hell are you gonna do?” A2 demanded not unkindly. “You’re not a hacker, you’re not a medic. All we know how to do is beat shit up.”

2B turned away, angry. She knew all that, she didn’t need it rubbed in her face.

“Hey.” A2 touched hesitant fingertips to her shoulder. “You freaking out isn’t helping anyone. It’s gonna be okay. They know what they’re doing.”

“Will it?” 2B wanted to believe it, but things had gone wrong so many times.

_So many times…_

“It’s my fault he’s in there. I keep hurting him. Without meaning to, I keep on hurting him and I don’t know how to stop.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s at least 50% responsible this time,” A2 pointed out.

“Shut up,” 2B snarled.

“Hey don’t get pissy with me, I’m just trying to help.”

“You don’t get it,” 2B snapped. “I was built to kill. I was built to kill _him!_ How can I protect him, protect our _child_ when it goes against every line of code in my body?”

Without thought, she summoned her sword and took a swipe at A2. She dodged easily, flipping out of the way and pulling her own weapon.

“Hey, I’ve held that sword,” A2 shot back, lunging to land a blow of her own. “I’ve seen your memories. I may not have lived it, but I saw what you saw, felt what you felt. I know how much he means to you.”

“You don’t! You could never!” 2B hacked and slashed, not trying to do any real damage, just _angry_ and frustrated and unsure what else to do. Picking a fight was better than just sitting and waiting for the worst to happen.

“You think you’re the only one who’s suffered loss? Who’s had to watch friends and loved ones die? I lost my whole damn unit! I killed some of them with my own two hands!”

2B was not impressed. “Join the club! 9S and I had to detonate the bunker! 6O, 21O, the Commander… Everyone!” She drove her point home with a vicious slash of her sword and a warning shot from Pod 042.

“No matter what I do, someone ends up dead. But that’s the point isn’t it. I’m an Executioner. It’s what I was built for. I wasn’t supposed to have any other purpose.” Their swords clashed, metal gleaming in the cloud-filtered sunlight. “I can play house all I want, but it won’t change anything. In the end, he’ll still be just as dead.”

“How many times?” A2 challenged. “How many times have you killed him? Do you remember?”

2B swallowed hard on the choking sensation rising in her throat. There was a time when she had kept count. When her memories had been consistent enough to vaguely remember the number. Now… She no longer remembered and the thought made her sick. So many bodies broken and remade, so many memories restored only to be lost. One thing was always the same. No- two things: In the end, she would have to kill 9S, but not before she fell in love with him first.

2B brought her sword down hard, anger making her sloppy. The blade sheared off the edge of A2’s greatsword, making sparks fly and setting her teeth on edge.

“Do you know how many Androids I’ve had to kill? How many times I’ve had to kill the _two of you?!_ ”

That brought 2B up short, and she staggered under the force of A2’s sword. “What?”

“You heard me.”

She wanted to accuse A2 of lying, of playing with her, but something deep in her core told her it was true. Some forgotten subroutine of her black box, or fragment of memory copied and erased so many times it had left an impression in her programming. She had known A2 would kill her, and that it would bring her no joy. Perhaps some part of her had remembered.

Her sword arm had fallen to her side. A2 stood back, weapon likewise at ease.

“How many times?”

“I counted at least forty. Could be more, could be less. I don’t know.”

2B pressed a hand to her mouth, willing herself not to be sick. A2 went on.

“I’ve been on Earth almost five years now. I don’t remember the first time I killed you, or the first time I killed him. I don’t really even remember the last time. I do remember when it got to be too much. When I had to keep my distance, because I got too attached to you two idiots and your damn clueless romance. But I already knew you by then, and how your little melodrama would play out, and I didn’t want to be part of another tragic ending.”

A2 sighed, stepped closer.

“Death is part of a soldier’s duty, of a soldier’s life. War means loss no matter what side you’re on. It was one thing slaughtering machines. It was something else entirely having to execute the two of you.”

“We were supposed to kill you,” 2B said blankly. “Why?”

A2 shook her head. “Because I was the only survivor besides Anemone, and if it’s one thing YoRHa hates, it’s loose ends. They couldn’t control me, so they decided to kill me instead.”

“But we didn’t, obviously.”

“No. Normally, you were too busy killing each other, but sometimes I had to step in.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know…”

“No reason you would.”

2B looked away, guilty and ashamed. How long had this cycle of grief, betrayal, and pain been going on and on? Humanity was long dead. What was the point? Had there ever _been_ a point? Why the hell would YoRHa keep making the same versions of their models if they were doomed to repeat the same thing over and over and over again? _Why?_ She swiped at eyes that had begun to smart and then spill over.

“Hey, stop that,” A2’s tone was gentle, despite the bare words. “C’mon, you’re tougher than this.”

“No I’m not,” 2B sobbed. “I’m… I’m _vulnerable_ when it comes to 9S, to our daughter. I’m not ashamed of that. I love them. But it hurts, and I’m scared, and I’m worried instead of protecting them, I’ll hurt them!”

Stepping forward, A2 folded her in an awkward hug; more of a protective stance than the soft squeeze from 9S that 2B was used to, but it got the point across.

“There’s no shame in fear,” A2 said quietly, one hand pressing 2B’s head to her shoulder, the other looped around her back as if bracing for a shower of rubble from a bomb blast.. “Fear keeps you alive. Keeps your people alive. Gives you a healthy respect for stuff that’ll get you killed. Everyone with half a brain is scared of something.”

“What are you afraid of?”

A2’s arms tightened around her briefly. Perhaps she imagined it, but 2B thought she felt a shiver chase through A2’s body.

“...being alone.”

Instinct made 2B soften and hug A2 close. At first A2 froze, thrown by the gesture. After a minute, her arms folded around 2B, her posture far more gentle and natural than before. For a long moment they stood there, trying to find enough strength between the two of them to move forward. A2 broke the silence first:

“So you gonna cry, or you gonna do something about it?”

2B wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, indignant, but not insulted. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Love them. Keep going. Be there. That’s all anybody can do.”

Glancing back at the entrance to the Resistance camp, 2B sighed. “I should probably stay out here. The twins said they’d call me if anything changed.”

“Yeah,” A2 agreed. “That’d probably be best.”

But that left them standing there awkwardly in ankle-deep water with nothing to do. 2B chewed her lower lip in thought.

“...do you know how to fish?”


	8. Chapter 8

Fishing was good for calming one’s nerves. Watching the water was always soothing, as was listening to the rush and ripple as it moved over the smooth stones and sandy bottom of the pond. Still, it was difficult to concentrate on Pod 042 as he floated in the shallows, arms poised to grab onto anything that swam too close. 

“So we just sit here, huh?” A2 asked, perched on her own little camp stool while Pod B bobbed happily in the water. He’d always liked fishing.

“Yep. Watch your pod to see when he catches something, then give the command to reel in.”

“Okay.” A pause. “What do you do with the fish if you catch ‘em? Not like we can eat ‘em. Heard some horror stories about mackerel.”

2B tried not to cringe. “Sell them, mostly.”

“Huh. What happens to them then?”

2B shrugged. “Well, killifish and some of the smaller ones make good pets. The bigger ones… I dunno. I never asked.”

“Seems a waste to kill the native ones.”

“We can always throw ‘em back.”

“True.”

It was nice having someone else to fish with. Admittedly, it could get a little boring if the other person didn’t also have a pod to help them catch, but it was calming having someone else nearby.

“I like the sound of the water,” A2 observed. “White noise.”

“Yeah,” 2B agreed. “Kinda wish we could hear it from the Resistance camp.”

“Ever think about moving? Plenty of buildings to choose from. Though maybe not with a new kid and all.”

“It’s something to think about.” It was. True, their little room in the Resistance camp was safe, but it was also tiny and windowless, and had only one other bed. If they did have more children- and 9S had said he wanted at least one more some day- there wouldn’t be room for everyone. Maybe it would be safe enough by then to sleep beyond the fortified walls and sentries, in a house of their own. A2 was right. The city didn’t lack for empty buildings. They could pick a flat nearby, where they could see the little falls, and hear the sound of the rushing water at night.

“What about you? Don’t you have a home?”

A2 shrugged. “Not really.”

“Do you want one?”

A2 looked at her, an inscrutable expression on her face. “Why do you care?”

“Because--” 2B nearly fell over as her communicator went off.

“2B, this is Devola.”

She didn’t need to hear any more. A flick of her wrist ended Pod 042’s time in the water and vanished the camp stool into the ether. Taking off at a run, she was up the hill and at the entrance to the medical station before Devola had finished talking.

“--nload at 78%. Things have been moving more quickly and I thought-- Oh. Hi.”

“Are they finished?” 2B panted.

The Popola turned to the monitor. “Almost. As you can see, progress is steadily climbing. They must be finishing up.”

2B glanced at the monitor, but the numbers and letters and graphs were little more than gibberish to her. Instead, she kept her eyes on 9S and sat down on the cot nearest him.

“Can I touch him? Will it mess up the transfer?”

“It should be safe.”

Hesitantly, she reached and rested a hand on his arm. Electrical current washed over her in a warm wave, almost as if he had stretched out to touch her himself.

‘ _Hey Bea,_ ’ his voice echoed in her head and she had to swallow hard as her eyes began to well up. ‘ _Almost done. Sorry it took so long._ ’

‘ _No, it’s fine. As long as you’re okay._ ’

“80%,” Popola’s words brought 2B back to the waking world. “89… 92… 97… Done!”

“Nines?” 2B asked, half afraid to speak.

The seconds ticked by heavily on her internal chronometer. One...two...three…

9S inhaled deeply, pulling in cool air. His body- rigidly locked in place for hours- abruptly went limp and he flopped onto his back with a groan.

“Nines!” 2B clutched at him, fell on him in an awkward hug, mindful of his still open plating. A fine sheen of condensation beaded his skin. A sliver of pale blue appeared briefly as he tried to look at her, but it was obvious it hurt.

“2B…” His voice was quiet, exhausted. He lifted one shaking hand to touch her face, and she held it in place with her own.

“You’re okay,” she told him, finally daring to believe the words. “It’s okay. You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah.” He smiled, letting his eyes drift closed again. “I gotta do some cleanup. Can you watch B9? Gonna be in safe mode for a bit.”

“Yes. Yes of course. Do what you need to.” Leaning, she kissed him and was rewarded with the taste of his smile. “Love you.”

“Love you too. Be right back.”

2B waited until 9S’ body had locked in place before touching one last kiss to his forehead, standing, and going to see her new daughter.

B9 lay where she had for the last few days in much the same position. Her hair had been mussed slightly during the download. Although she didn’t stir, there was a different quality to her. There was someone inside the body now; a sleeping consciousness where before there had been nothing. Having been freshly downloaded to her new body, she was no doubt conducting start up procedures of her own. Beneath her eyelids, her eyes darted this way and that, as if she were dreaming. It would no doubt be several minutes, or even hours before she woke up.

Oh! Right. She’d need support once she did. 2B summoned Pod C.

“Pod, overwrite my credentials. Replace with those of unit B9.”

“Affirmative. Credentials overwritten. Pod C now synchronized to unit B9.”

2B allowed herself a small sigh of relief. Good. Now B9 would have someone to watch over her and provide support if she found herself alone.

A groan off to her left made 2B jump up and lunge for 9S’ cot. She took his hand and held it tight.

“Bea?” he asked, groggy.

“I’m right here. Are you alright? How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay,” he mumbled, though the words lacked conviction. “Just tired. Kinda sore. I need like a thousand naps.”

Laughing, she leaned and kissed him. 9S smiled into it, putting an arm around her and pinning her close so she couldn’t stand straight. 2B didn’t mind. Rather than hold such an awkward position, she edged onto the available mattress space next to him. 9S tried to push over to give her more room, but moving was obviously difficult and painful.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, fine. I just feel like my brain’s been scooped out with a rusty spoon. My head’s all empty and hollow. I probably just need to rest and defrag.”

“Take as long as you need.”

“Is B9 okay?”

“She’s fine, she hasn’t woken up yet.”

“Do we have to stay here, or can we go home?”

2B lifted her head and looked around for the twins, but they’d vanished. Evidently she’d wanted to give the new family some space.

“If the twins say it’s okay, yeah. We can go home.”

“Good.”


	9. Chapter 9

‘ _Happy Birthday, B9._ ’

There’s a voice coming from somewhere. She can’t tell where, exactly. Not outside, but inside. How is that possible?

‘ _I’m your mom. I want you to know that you’re special and precious to me. You’re my baby. I love you with everything I am, and that will never change._ ’

She wants to respond, wants to answer back, but isn’t sure how.

‘ _It’s okay, sweetheart. Here, let’s get you set up. See this here? That’s your Brightness setting. Turn it up until you can see me, okay?_

It’s nothing more than a series of little vertical lines, but they appear and disappear if she prods them. Brightness does indeed filter into her optical receptors, sharp and painful at first, and she squints and cries out. However, the pain fades quickly, and she’s able to look around. There isn’t much to see. Just a plain gray room and...a face.

Fair hair, blue eyes, a kind smile. He’s smiling so hard, tears run from his eyes. Funny. He doesn’t look sad, yet he’s crying. Why?

Another face joins him. This one has longer hair, held back by a ribbon. Gray eyes, a single beauty mark on her chin. Her smile is closed-lipped, but she’s crying too. Whatever is the matter?

‘ _Hi, baby._ ’ A hand rises into view and waves at her. She assumes it’s attached to the face with shorter hair.

‘ _Mom._ ’

‘ _Yeah. Let’s get your Voice Recognition set up. Turn it up until you can hear us. It might be a little loud at first, but don’t be scared, okay?_ ’

She sees the setting, pokes at it until the bar goes from narrow to wide, and she can hear his voice from the outside too.

“There we go. Now, let’s check your Vibration Controls. I’m gonna squeeze your hand, okay?”

There’s a light pressure, a sense of warmth. Without thought or feeling, the corners of her mouth turn up.

“Felt that didn’t you?”

“Yes,” the word leaves her mouth unbidden. It tastes funny and sounds weird, but not in a bad way.

The voice is constricted when next it speaks. “Good. That’s good. Okay. I’m gonna take you out of Safe Mode, so you should be able to move and sit up if you want.”

Something releases. She feels her body go limp, sinking deeper into the soft surface where she rests. She is here, inside this gray room, lying on a bed, and two people are looking down at her.

“Mom,” she says, reaching for him.

He gathers her into his arms, holding her close and she snuggles into him immediately.

“Yeah…” the word is barely more than a whisper. “We’ve been waiting a long time to meet you.”

She pulls back and smiles for him. Mom smiles back, wiping his eyes with one hand.

“This’s your dad,” he nods at the second person.

“Happy Birthday, B9,” Dad says, holding out her arms. B9 lets go of Mom to receive a hug from Dad. A fragile little noise escapes Dad’s throat.

“Dad?”

“It’s okay, baby,” Dad tells her, stroking her hair. “I’m just so happy to finally meet you.”

“Why is everyone crying?”

Dad laughs and wipes at her tears with one hand. “I don’t know. I’m not sad.”

“It happens sometimes when you feel too much at once,” Mom explains. “Strong emotion often produces tears. In this case, we’re both super happy.”

Ah. That explains it. She can feel herself smiling wide. There’s water welling up from her eyes, driven there by a warm feeling that’s growing in her chest. The water slides down her cheeks. She’s happy too.


End file.
